We're Not White
by zutaraforeverSOCI255
Summary: The Gaang is spending the night in the Spirit World when Katara wakes up from a horrifying dream...


Setting: This scene takes place after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Gaang is camping out in the Spirit World for the night at the end of another epic adventure.

_Everything is so blindingly pale. People try to bend, but they're just moving their arms around and yelling to make a single stone move. Inky squiggles fill pages where there should be words. "The Ahvatar will save us." Ahvatar? Do you mean Avatar? What's going on? _

Katara gasped and woke with a start. "Oh god, what a horrible dream." She looked around at their outdoor campsite. The Spirit World was beautiful, but it could also be very creepy, especially after a dream like that.

Sokka groaned in the sleeping bag next to her. "What? What is it? Are we being attacked again?"

"It's nothing," Katara replied, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, "go back to sleep."

On her other side, Aang turned to face her, concern on his face. "Are you sure you're okay Katara?"

"It's nothing." Katara breathed, her heart still pounding from the nightmare. "It's just… I dreamt that we were white."

"White?" Aang looked confused.

"What do you mean?" Sokka was a bit more awake now, sitting up to listen to Katara.

Katara sat for a moment, trying to get her thoughts together, but shuddering at the memory. "We were all white. We were white because somebody thought we had to be in order to validate our experiences as interesting. But… That wasn't all. The person who made us white… He… It was like he was trying to prove he wasn't a tool of the systematic racism of Hollywood films by adding _authenticity_ to our world."

Katara turned to her friend, the boy she had gone on many adventures with and learned important lessons like being brave and doing the right thing even when it was hard. "Aang, this guy called you the Ah-vatar because he thought that pronunciation was more ethnically authentic. But when he needed to show the writing on your wanted poster, all he did was draw squiggles on the page! How is that authentic?"

"Well that's just ridiculous," Sokka scoffed. "We're from the Southern Water Tribe. Our skin is dark because the sun reflects off the ice and we need that protection. Our tribe would need a whole lot of sunscreen if we were white."

Katara cringed. "Actually, we were the only white people there. The extras were brown." Sokka's jaw dropped at the notion of there being only two children—main characters or not—who live in an isolated village and have a different skin color from everybody else.

Aang spoke up innocently, "Well, technically I'm a bit pale compared to you guys, but the Air Nomads are based on Tibetan monks! And our world has a writing system that makes just as much sense as English. Replacing our words with squiggles doesn't make sense! It's actually kind of silly when you think about it." Aang laughed.

Katara couldn't help but smile back at him. "It was laughable, but at the same time," she pulled her arms around herself and shivered, "it was really scary."

The ground rumbled as Toph emerged from her earth tent. "Guys, I'm blind, not deaf. Keep it down when people are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry, Toph," Aang replied. "Katara was telling us about her dream."

"Her dream? Was I in it? Did I look cool?" Toph walked over and plopped down next to them.

Katara's worried look deepened. "No, thankfully. I don't know what they would have done to you. It's not every day you find a complex, disabled female character who also happens to be a badass warrior and friend. If I could take a guess at what a future dream would look like with you in it, you would probably be white, overly angry, and need to be saved all of the time—probably by a male character that they would turn into your love interest to soften your harsh exterior."

The three looked at Toph. Her bedhead was out of control, her feet weren't washed, and she had a look on her face that meant business. Even though Toph had gone through two seasons of character development that explored what it meant to be an outsider—especially one with a version of femininity that didn't fit in—and learned that if you really love yourself and who you are then it doesn't matter what other people think of you, Katara was afraid that any future dreams she had would reveal that Toph's literally groundbreaking character would be watered down into some kind of cranky damsel in distress. Katara's dream felt foreboding. She worried that she and all the other female characters were destined to be knocked down a peg for being women, and that the rest of her friends were doomed to have their ethnicities erased. Another story told through the eyes of people of color washed out by the media.

Toph grumbled and pushed the hair out of her face. "Psh… That would be dumb. Well, at least our world isn't like your nightmare."

Suddenly, the air next to them started shimmering and glowing. "Everybody back away! Something's coming!" Sokka yelled.

With a small pop, a hole opened up and out fell four people into a pile on the ground. "Oof!" One of them said. She was a girl, about 17, with dark skin and Southern-Water-Tribe-style clothing. There were two guys and another girl with her, all jumbled up in a pile. "Ow, ow," the Water Tribe girl said, "Where are we? What's going on?" She turned her head and locked eyes with Aang. Her expression changed.

Aang stared back. "Don't I… I think I know you," he said to her, confused.

"Aang!" the Water Tribe girl cried, surprised and happy. "I can't believe it's you! Did you bring us here?"

Katara, Sokka, and Toph were on the defensive. You never knew what could happen in the Spirit World. "Aang? Do you know them?" Katara asked.

"I think she's me." Aang said calmly. "From a future life. You're the next Avatar in the cycle aren't you?"

"Yes," the Water Tribe girl responded, excitedly, "My name is Korra, and this is Mako, Bolin, and Asami."

Sokka relaxed his warrior stance, but not entirely. "You're all from the future? How is that possible?"

Asami shrugged her shoulders and smiled. "One minute we were talking and the next, we're here. It's strange."

"This is the Spirit World," Toph spat on the ground, "It's a pretty strange place."

"If you're from the future," Katara began, "can you tell us what it's like? I had this horrible dream last night, and I think it was trying to tell me something about the future. How is your gender representation? There aren't," Katara paused, not wanting to even say the words out loud, "any love triangles, are there?"

An awkward silence filled the air. The tall boy they called Mako brought his hand up to his nose and winced.

"Well… As for gender representation, Asami and I are pretty awesome. We kick all kinds of butt. But uh… I do get kind of angry sometimes—maybe a little too angry. And I used to direct all that anger into my relationship with Mako. It was pretty dysfunctional. Also, he might have saved me a few too many times."

"Oh no," Toph gasped. "A tough girl softened by romance and turned into a damsel in distress! Say it isn't so! We've come too far for this."

"I'm not totally softened!" Korra said defensively, "There were times when Asami was dating Mako where I could focus on other things. And I've had some real character development in the later seasons where my main worries aren't boys. Plus, I have some pretty cool fight scenes."

Sokka spoke up, "So if Asami dated Mako, too, then…"

"Not a love triangle!" Aang gasped.

"It wasn't entirely our fault," Korra protested, "Our show started right after the whole love-triangle-Team-X-versus-Team-Y thing got really big. Nickelodeon probably made Bryke put a love triangle in to boost ratings."

"But it was too annoying, so they stopped," Asami added. "Plus, now that that ugly mess is behind us, Korra and I are really good friends. The main ship these days is Korrasami." Korra blushed.

"Awesome!" Sokka cheered. "Female empowerment! I'm glad you ladies are friends instead of enemies torn apart by a guy."

"Sometimes Bryke listen, and sometimes it's out of their hands. That's how TV goes." Korra gave a wincing smile and shrugged.

"I guess the future isn't entirely bad," Katara said. "But when our shows go off the air, what's going to happen? We have so many strong female characters, people of color, and people with disabilities. What if my dream really is the future?"

"Don't worry, Katara," Aang said. "There will always be creators like Bryke with strong characters and good stories to tell. More and more, people want to see diversity on television, and they are going to demand it. Look at us. We've been off air for seven years and we still have a huge following because of the quality characters the show is about. We are the future of television."

"What do you guys mean, 'off air'?" Toph said, quizzically.

"Hold on." Korra interjected. "Even for a story with time travel this timeline is getting confusing,"

Korra was cut off by a rustling in some nearby bushes. Zuko emerged, brushing off some leaves. "Hey guys, Zuko here. Sorry I wasn't around. I got lost."

"Zuko!" Katara cried, and ran to meet him. Then they started making out, because this is my fanfiction and that's how it is going to end.

End.


End file.
